TheMenWhoFell2Earth have been entertaining the crowds of East London for three whole years now of true interstellar party action on the dance floor. For their third birthday event they’re welcoming back Mr Jim Stanton of Horse Meat Disco.
The boys caught up with Jim to find out what we can expect from his set at their night!
What’s new, Jim? Another hugely busy year for Horse Meat, how’s it been?
It’s been a brilliant year with all four of us HMD guys scaling the globe but it’s now winter and we’re home, snuggling up and making some music together. HMD reaching ten years is a heck of a milestone.
We’re only at birthday three and in today’s world even that seems like a while. What do you think the secret of longevity with a club is?
We never had a secret really, I’ve always said we just wanted to make a club that respects people’s intelligence musically. We started HMD primarily to satiate our own need to hear good music that we like, not what is fashionable or sent out on promos or whatever. I think the key is to trust your own taste in music, don’t follow trends and be unique – you’re never alone!
You DJ at parties all around the world, does London’s slightly left-of-centre gay scene stand out to you for any good reasons? Anywhere it should be learning from?
London is really healthy in terms of the scene – key players like Dan Beaumont [Dalston Superstore/DanceTunnel] are really giving it and offering people something fresh. East London innovates, with diversity and the mainstream hand-in-hand, there’s a lot to be excited about here.
Outside of London we’re celebrating five years of monthly parties with the excellent TAPE Crew in Berlin – now happening at Prince Charles club, Kreuzberg. I think that has to be our biggest party experience outside of London. It’s always packed with a super hot crowd with this amazing energy I think only exists in Berlin.
New York has been so good to us over the years now, with regular parties produced by handsome party supremo Josh Wood. We DJ there on USA Bank Holiday Sundays at Cielo and the incredible new OUTPUT club in Brooklyn. New York is still red hot! Those two are probably our stand-out parties, but seriously I’m always blown away by most of the parties we play everywhere from Birmingham to Tokyo, the disco music legacy is so relevant right now.
What have been the big records for you this year? Who should everybody have their eyes on in 2014?
Well, apart from stunning disco records like Todd Terje’s ‘Stranbar’ tearing up floors everywhere, this year’s musical peak for me is about the emergent slow techno disco sound pioneered by producers like Andrew Weatherall and Daniel Avery. It’s something that’s been bubbling through for some time now. It’s groovy, dark and erotic – how late night music in clubs for adults should be.
“I think the key is to trust your own taste in music, don’t follow trends and be unique!”
How does what people will hear you play on a Saturday night at East Bloc differ from what they’d hear at the Eagle on a Sunday?
Well, I’m kind of tapping into that sound I just described above, keeping it slow and chuggy as it takes some time to adjust to it, but when it hits you’re hooked. But there’s always room for a bit of Cheryl Lynn on the peak time dance floor!
We keep hearing talk of original Horse Meat Disco material hitting our turntables soon – anything you can tell us yet?
Yes, we’re finally getting our ideas out musically: me, James, Luke and Severino have been crafting our sound over the past three years and feel confident now we’ve got something exciting to hear. I think people will be surprised with what we have done, it’s definitely not what you would expect from us. It looks likely for a Spring release for the first HMD EP and we’ve also just cleared the licensing for HMD IV which looks set for the same time.
Will Horse Meat be writing a Morrissey-style autobiography?
Mark Oakley [Eagle London House Mother and gaffer] is your man for that one, he is the first stop repository for all of the escapades that have gone on in that venue. It’s mind-bending how many stories have happened there – it would be rude not to get it down in a book.
Sum up TheMenWhoFell2Earth in a sentence.
The men who were never really of this earth: unique, talented, groovy motherfuckers.
• TheMenWhoFell2Earth 3rd Birthday is at East Bloc (217 City Road, Shoredtich, EC1V 1JN) on Saturday 23rd November, 11pm-6am.
